Menu accueil pays

Olympic boxing’s governing body, AIBA, has banned African confederation head Kelani Bayor for three years for allegedly provoking the crowd at the continental championships in Brazzaville last June. Bayor is an AIBA vice-president and executive committee member as well as chairman of Togo’s national Olympic committee. “The Disciplinary Commission found that a hostile and threatening reaction to AIBA officials by spectators after the result of a bout on the last day of the competition was exacerbated by comments from Mr Bayor,” AIBA said in a statement on Monday. It found Bayor had “committed serious and unacceptable violations of the AIBA Disciplinary Code” at the tournament in Congo Republic. AIBA said the ban was from all...

Tuesday's action at the World Athletics Championships sees two of the most intriguing races of the program as South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk bids for the first half of his 400/200 meters double and Nigel Amos goes for gold in the men's 800m. World record holder and defending champion Van Niekerk should be unbeatable in the 400m but faces a stiff challenge, not least from Botswanan duo Isaac Makwala and Thebe Baboloki. Another Botswanan, Amos, will also have to be at his best in the 800m, where a clutch of athletes are suddenly dreaming of glory in the absence of Kenya's injured champion David Rudisha. Kenya is expected to continue its dominance of the men's 3,000m steeplechase - though American...

The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations will expand from 16 to 24 teams and be staged in June and July, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on Thursday. The tournament has traditionally been held in January and February, with the timing of the tournament a source of frustration to European clubs forced to release players in the middle of the season. The CAF executive committee confirmed the changes to the format following a two-day symposium in Rabat, although the...

Borussia Dortmund insisted that Chelsea target Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was going nowhere after the Chelsea target scored twice in a 3-1 preseason win over AC Milan in China on Tuesday. The coveted Gabon hitman showed just why Dortmund are so reluctant to part company with their star striker with two confidently taken goals in rain-lashed Guangzhou. "We have decided that Auba will stay with BVB," said Dortmund's sporting director Michael Zorc. "The transfer window is closed for him." Nuri Sahlin opened...

Borussia Dortmund coach Peter Bosz said on Monday that the speculation surrounding the future of striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was not affecting the Gabon international. Aubameyang trained with his team mates in China ahead of Dortmund’s International Champions Cup match against AC Milan in Guangzhou on Tuesday. Aubameyang has been linked with a transfer away from Dortmund with English cjampions Chelsea reported to be among the clubs interested in signing the 28-year-old striker.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's recent mask-wearing exploits landed him in hot water with Borussia Dortmund's bosses, but his coach Thomas Tuchel has leapt to the defence of the Gabon hot-shot. "Such a sensitive human being like Auba is affected when so much is said and written about him -- even if he has himself to blame," said Tuchel. "The goal in this situation, with it's background, was very important for us and Auba." The goal Tuchel refered to was Aubameyang's 25th in...

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the Bundesliga's top-scorer, claimed his 23rd goal in as many league games as Borussia Dortmund laboured to a 1-0 home win over strugglers Ingolstadt on Friday. Aubameyang's first-half winner was his 30th goal in all competitions for Dortmund this season. Borussia remain third in the table, narrowing the gap behind RB Leipzig to three points, but 13 adrift of runaway leaders Bayern Munich. Borussia, who have drawn Monaco in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, were missing a host of stars, but there was no disguising a poor display.

Africa will host a Commonwealth Games one day despite the blow of Durban being stripped of hosting the 2022 edition, David Grevemberg, the chief executive of The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), told AFP. Durban lost the right to host the Games on Monday -- just 18 months after being awarded them -- when it failed to meet criteria laid down by the CGF, primarily over costs. "I wouldn't want to make a judgement call," Grevemberg told AFP on the sidelines...

Borussia Dortmund's Thomas Tuchel has blamed Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's Champions League shocker against Benfica on a loss of fitness at the Africa Cup of Nations. Tuchel hauled off Aubameyang moments after the 27-year-old missed a penalty in the 1-0 last 16 first leg defeat in Lisbon. It was one of four clear chances spurned by Aubameyang, the Bundesliga's top scorer with 17 goals. "'Auba' has been physically behind since returning from the Africa Cup," explained Tuchel. "After the missed...

Up to 18 players at the just-completed Africa Cup of Nations could be involved in the new-look CAF Champions League when it kicks off this weekend. Among them is Georges Bokwe, one of two unused goalkeepers in the Cameroon squad that defeated Egypt in the final last Sunday in Gabon. Bokwe was kept out of the starting line-up by the consistent brilliance of Spain-based Fabrice Ondoa, who was included in the team of the tournament. But Bokwe is the first...

Built in rainforest outside Gabon's fourth largest town as one of the venues for the Africa Cup of Nations, the Oyem stadium risks becoming a white elephant now the tournament has moved on. Ghana beat DR Congo at the venue in the quarter-finals on Sunday, the last of seven matches to be played at the stadium during the competition. It is anyone's guess when the next game will be held. Not least because construction work has not actually finished, and...

Sporting agony in the shape of an early elimination from their own Africa Cup of Nations has only added to the other woes facing Gabon, a country already in the midst of a political and economic crisis. "The Africa Cup of Nations is not finished. I encourage all football lovers to enjoy the quality of the remaining matches," said president Ali Bongo in a statement released following Sunday's 0-0 draw with central African neighbours Cameroon in Libreville. That result, Gabon's...

Africa Cup of Nations hosts Gabon crashed out of the competition in the group stage on Sunday after a goalless draw with Cameroon, who advance to the last eight. Gabon were left to regret an inability to convert their chances at the Stade de l'Amitie in Libreville, including one spectacular early miss from star man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Denis Bouanga then hit the post in the fourth minute of added time as they were held to a third consecutive draw in Group A, their hopes of winning the trophy for the first time on home soil ended in agonising fashion.

Gabon coach Jose Antonio Camacho refused to discuss his own future as he said bad luck was to blame for the hosts' early exit from the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday. "I am sorry for the fans and for the team. We went out to win the game but football is not fair, and we hit the post in injury time before their goalkeeper made a great save from the follow-up," said Camacho after a 0-0 draw with Cameroon...

Gabon talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang admitted that the Africa Cup of Nations hosts had blown their chance and blamed a poor build-up to the tournament after they were sent packing in the group stage on Sunday. "We had chances. Unfortunately there are days when it doesn't go in," said the Borussia Dortmund striker, who missed a glorious early opportunity for the Panthers as they drew 0-0 with Cameroon in Libreville. Denis Bouanga also struck the post in stoppage time before Didier...

Burkina Faso and Cameroon secured progress to the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday as hosts Gabon crashed out. Gabon were held to a 0-0 draw by Cameroon in Libreville, and their opponents went through to the last eight as runners-up in Group A. Burkina Faso won the group on goal difference after a 2-0 victory against Guinea-Bissau in Franceville. A Rudinilson Silva own goal and a Bertrand Traore effort gave 2013 runners-up Burkina Faso the win...

Cameroon closed in on the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations by beating Guinea-Bissau 2-1 on Wednesday while hosts Gabon were left still waiting for a win despite another goal from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Indomitable Lions came from behind to defeat Guinea-Bissau with Sebastien Siani and Michael Ngadeu netting after Piqueti's contender for goal of the tournament had given the debutants the lead. Cameroon now know a draw against Gabon in their final Group A game on Sunday will secure them a place in the last eight after a build-up to the finals marred by the refusal of several

The Africa Cup of Nations gets underway in Gabon on Saturday afternoon as the hosts, spearheaded by the brilliant Pierre-Emerick Aubemayang, face minnows Guinea-Bissau in the tournament's opening game in Libreville. The Panthers, coached by veteran Spaniard Jose Antonio Camacho, are looking to the French-born Borussia Dortmund striker to lead their bid to win the continental title for the first time, 60 years on from the inaugural Cup of Nations. "Pierre is one of the best players in the world. Gabon are lucky to have him," Camacho admitted at a press conference on Friday in the Gabonese

Nigeria boast one of the strongest current national teams in Africa, but will not be among the 16 countries challenging for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations title from Saturday. The 'Super Eagles' were much less formidable early last year and taking only one point of a possible six against Egypt condemned them to second place in a qualifying group. Ordinarily, Nigeria could have squeezed through as one of the best two runners-up, but the withdrawal of Chad reduced the...

A new-look Ivory Coast will defend their Africa Cup of Nations title while the hosts' lightning-quick striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leads the cast of superstar names as the 2017 tournament begins in Gabon on Saturday. As Borussia Dortmund striker Aubameyang prepares to carry the hopes of the small central African nation on his shoulders at the biennial African football showpiece, the fleet-footed Riyad Mahrez will aim to top a magnificent 12 months by taking Algeria to the February 5 final and...